Quarterback Tyrod Taylor has been the most polarizing and divisive player on the Buffalo Bills since he signed with the team prior to 2015. Taylor was impressive in his initial season as the Bills’ starting quarterback but his lack of aggressiveness, unwillingness to consistently utilize the middle of the field and a tendency to hold onto the ball too long caused a large segment of the fanbase to turn on the 28-year old passer.

Taylor’s passing statistics have seen a steep decline in 2017 as he’s completed 64.2-percent of his passes for 1,684 yards, throwing 10 touchdowns and three touchdowns through nine games. In Week 11, Taylor completed nine-of-18 passes for 56 passing yards and one interception, before being pulled from the game in favor of rookie fifth-round draft pick, Nathan Peterman.

Head coach Sean McDermott committed to Tayor as the team’s starting quarterback following the loss but on Wednesday, he changed his tune, announcing that the former Pitt star would start over Taylor in Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Once the news began spreading, seemingly every mainstream media outlet had developed some sort of criticism directed towards the Bills, arguing that the team benched Taylor to make a statement despite their defense playing terribly in recent weeks.

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Steven Ruiz of ‘For The Win’ penned a column titled ‘The Bills are making a colossal mistake benching Tyrod Taylor.’

Ruiz begins his piece explaining that the Bills had essentially thrown away the season by benching Taylor, who he labeled a ‘sure thing,’ for Peterman, describing Taylor as a game-manager that’s inaccurate, lacks arm strength and can struggle reading defenses.

Taylor, the sure thing, has played 38 games for Buffalo. The ‘sure thing’ has led them to a 19-18 record, completing 63-percent of his passes for 7,742 passing yards, throwing 47 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, averaging just 203.7 yards-per-game through the air.

Ruiz argues that Peterman’s best attribute is his athleticism while noting that the only advantage he has over Taylor is a one-inch difference in height. Here is his pre-draft assessment of Peterman.

Most of his attempts came off play-action fakes and roll outs. The offense did not feature a lot of complex reads, which would have given Peterman problems. He’s slow to recognize coverages post-snap and hesitated far too often.

Peterman will need at least a year to get more comfortable with making pro-level reads before he’s even ready to play a backup role. Only a teams with a firmly entrenched starters should look at Peterman in the draft.

While Peterman certainly wasn’t in the discussion of the top quarterback prospects in the 2017 NFL draft class, it was his experience in a pro-style offense that relied on play-action and bootlegs that made him so attractive to Buffalo.

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Offensive coordinator Rick Dennison stems from the Mike Shanahan/ Gary Kubiak school of West Coast Offenses that heavily rely on play-action and bootlegs with quick, simple pass concepts.

Debunking accuracy claims

We turned to analytics website Pro Football Focus to see just how valid the claims Peterman’s inaccuracy, poor arm strength and criticisms were. And, well, the results were interesting. In his two seasons as the Panthers’ starter, Peterman completed 61.1-percent of his passes for 5,142 passing yards (8.3 yards-per-attempt), throwing 47 touchdowns and just 15 interceptions, posting a 151.1 passer rating.

In his senior season, Peterman had a 59.5-percent completion rate while passing for 2,855 yards (9.2 yards-per-attempt) with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. When accounting for the 23 passes dropped by his receivers, Peterman posted an adjusted completion percentage of 72.0-percent, which was 17th-best among 46 qualifying passers.

Taylor not solely to blame, but not helping

Ruiz went on to explain that coach Sean McDermott hoped that the switch would provide a much-needed spark to the Bills’ offense- which has been wildly inconsistent throughout the season. He correctly noted that Taylor wasn’t the team’s only problem. The defense has allowed 498 yards and nine rushing touchdowns in the last two weeks while the offense is struggling to get the run game going.

However, Taylor is far from a sacrificial lamb that’s being cast away as the one to blame for Buffalo’s recent stretch of poor play. In the last four games, Taylor’s completed 66-percent of his passes for 774 passing yards (6.5 yards-per-attempt), throwing just four interceptions and an interception. However, 99 yards and two touchdowns came in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the Bills’ loss to the New York Jets in garbage time as they were trailing 34-7.

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Tyrod Taylor’s ‘patience’ in the pocket’

The last argument made for keeping Taylor as the starting quarterback is his ‘patience’ and ‘poise’ in the pocket, stating that he is no longer missing open receivers. However, Taylor’s tendency to hold on to the ball too long while failing to ‘throw receivers open’ has been one of his biggest issues this year.

According to PFF, 183 of Taylor’s 254 passes were deemed ‘catchable.’ He averages 3.11-seconds from snap-to-throw, the longest time among quarterbacks. He’s been sacked 28 times, but PFF credited just 12 to the offensive line, noting that Taylor’s dancing in the pocket has led to him taking unnecessary sacks.

Taylor wasn’t in Bills’ long-term plans

Ruiz concludes his column by explaining that the decision to bench Taylor could potentially cost the Bills a shot at their first playoff appearance since 1999 and that this could signal the end of his tenure in Buffalo. However, Taylor’s future has been in question since last season.